For Love or Legacy by Ruth Cardello

Author:Ruth Cardello [Cardello, Ruth]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Azizex666, Romance, Adult, Contemporary
ISBN: 1467936707
Amazon: B005IB03NA
Goodreads: 12406034
Publisher: Smashwords
Published: 2011-08-19T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twelve

For the next few days, Stephan and Nicole talked. They met at the small table in his kitchen each morning at seven thirty. His cook made them both light fare and coffee. He asked her about her plans for the day and then shared his. They took the elevator down to the lobby together, awkwardly parting with a wave that seemed to amuse him.

They met again for dinner in his ultra modern dining room. At first they had contained their conversations to work anecdotes, but as the rapport between them became more comfortable, their topics expanded. Nicole shared with Stephan her concern over meeting some resistance as she took over the CEO position at Corisi Ltd. She hadn’t expected to have to defend herself to the same people who would have been fired had she not fought for them. Stephan listened to all of her concerns and then suggested some ways to unruffle their feathers. His suggestions worked, which increased the fragile trust that was building between them.

Mid-way through one evening meal, Nicole said, “Your mother called. The party for your new nephew is on Saturday.”

“What did you say?”

“I said we would go.”

“I wish you’d talked to me about this first.”

A sickening realization. “You don’t want me around your family.”

“Nicole…”

“Don’t Nicole me. Say what you mean. Do you think they won’t like me? Your mother actually asked me to go early so she could teach me some recipes.”

“My family loves you and that’s the problem.”

“I already told you that when the time comes…”

He ran a frustrated hand through his blond hair, “Don’t you get it? Every time you talk to them it’s a lie. They don’t know that none of this is real. I’m not going to let you hurt my family more than you…”

Nicole stood up and threw her napkin on the table. “Finish that sentence, Stephan. No, wait, I’ll finish it for you. You won’t let me hurt them more than I already have. You still blame me for what Dominic did to your father. I thought we were becoming friends if nothing else. I thought you understood that I would have done anything for your family if I could have.” An angry tear ran down her cheek. “You don’t want me around your family? You tell them. You explain why I didn’t want to go to a party to celebrate a baby that I helped come into this world.”

With that, Nicole crossed through the living room and slammed the door of her bedroom.

Stephan slammed a fist down onto the table.

Great. Now she’s crying.

That woman was impossible.

This was supposed to be entertaining and temporary, a way to finally get her out of his system. He wasn’t supposed to rush through a shower each morning, just so he’d have a few more minutes of her company before he went off to work. In the middle of meetings, his thoughts shouldn’t fill with images of her, and what she was doing at her own company that day. And never

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